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with yourself. Healing takes time. Few people can just “snap out of it,” so don’t expect that to happen. Rather know that you have to work at healing. It’s not a passive process. You must flip the switch and tap into whatever power runs through you, including your willpower and the power of your faith.
H EALING O LD W OUNDS
    When you find yourself superstressed, highly emotional, and unable to function because of something that has occurred, it is important to separate what has happened
to
you from what is going on
inside
you. We all bear emotional scars from past experiences. Sometimes those scars are not fully healed, so when you hit hard times, the old wounds reopen. The deep pain you feel may be aggravated by past hurts and reawakened insecurities. If you sense that you may be overreacting to a bad situation, or if you feel overwhelmed and unable to cope, you should ask yourself,
Why is this hitting me so hard? Am I reacting this way because of what is actually occurring, or am I reacting so strongly because of what has occurred in the past?
    I was reminded of the importance of analyzing my feelings and their impact on my actions in late 2010. Looking back, I see now that the very rough patch I hit then really wasn’t a major calamity. It just seemed that way because I was exhausted spiritually, mentally, and emotionally from working so much and constantly traveling. This was the first time one of my businesses had serious financial challenges. Ironically, the problem thatlaid me so low arose within my Attitude Is Altitude company, which markets my motivational and inspirational speeches and DVDs. That business had experienced increased demand even during the recession, so I’d hired more people and expanded operations. I thought the company was in good shape, so I was quite surprised when my staff notified me that they were having trouble keeping up with payroll and bills. We’d been doing so well despite the bad economy, but suddenly, big customers who owed us money for DVDs and speaking engagements were either slow to pay or not paying us at all. Money that we’d counted on did not arrive, and that was a big part of the problem.
    The other major factor was this bullheaded bloke named Nick Vujicic. I’d long wanted to make a Christian music video as an inspirational item to sell through my business. When business was booming and my first book was hitting bestseller lists around the world, I felt very optimistic about the future. So I decided to make the music video as a product for Attitude Is Altitude. Between the cash flow problem and the music video costs, which were higher than I’d expected, our business fell fifty thousand dollars in debt. We’d been running at 150 mph, and suddenly I had to slam on the brakes. That is no exaggeration. We had seventeen projects underway, and I canceled or postponed nearly all of them. I told the staff we were switching to survival mode. Such problems are common to fast-growing companies, especially when the overall economy is in a recession. Still, this development caught me by surprise. Guilt set in. I’d been so intent on fulfilling my purpose of inspiring and evangelizing to people around the world that I’d overreached. Just because I had the resources and a good idea didn’t mean the timing was right. I was operating on Nick’s time instead of God’s.
    When I realized that the company had fallen into debt, I was consumedby the feeling that I’d let down all the people who worked for me and all those who believed in me. Still, the extent of my despair quickly exceeded the magnitude of the problem. I became so overwrought I could barely function, and it wasn’t just for a day or two.
    My despair went on for more than a month. It took about two more months to pull out of my funk entirely. I lost confidence in myself, and I’m sad to say, I just lost it altogether. I internalized the frustration and shock.
    I reverted to that fragile and insecure boy I’d